Research and university spinoffs into renewable at Solarexpo

At Solarexpo 2010, "R4R - Research for Renewables" will be a special event all about research, university spinoffs and innovative startups. Solarexpo & Greenbuilding will be held on 5-7 May 2010 at the Verona Exhibition Centre (Italy).

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Solarexpo – the international exhibition and conference on renewable energy and distributed generation, to be held at Verona Exhibition Centre on 5-7 May 2010 – is launching a special event, “R4R – Research for Renewables“.

The project, which aims to become a permanent feature of Solarexpo and have an increasingly international dimension, has been especially conceived for all organisations involved in transforming research into business, from across Italy and the entire range of renewable energy technologies. It will involve above all university spinoffs (and spinoffs from other research institutions) and innovative startups involved in all segments of the renewable energy sector and latest-generation energy technologies. R4R will represent Italy’s first “research community” entirely dedicated to renewables.R4R is a concept of Solarexpo that has been developed and managed in partnership with Galileia, a spinoff from the engineering faculty of University of Padua that provides innovative services for clients in the energy sector.

The R4R project R4R will be hosted in one of the halls at Solarexpo and feature a large exhibition space, strong visual identity and a dedicated layout, all specially designed for this project. The R4R area will be made available to 20 young and innovative companies so they can have their own stand and present their activities. These selected startups and spinoffs will be able to exhibit at no charge.Alongside the exhibition area, a series of conference events will complete the communications and networking experience of R4R. The programme includes conferences and workshops organised around two themed days: “Research Day” and “Green Financing Day“.

Luca Zingale, scientific director of Solarexpo, said: “With the R4R project, Solarexpo is building on its innovative approach and continuing to create new spaces in which the vast worlds of renewable energy can come together. R4R is our way of engaging with parts of the renewables sector that would only be marginally interested in a traditional exhibition event: the world of research and new companies in the renewable energy field. This is an environment that is evolving rapidly and is full of new talents, ideas and projects, but isn’t very visible for more established companies and public sector decision makers.”

Arturo Lorenzoni of Galileia added: “The R4R initiative aims to fill a gap in the field of renewable energy sources, which needs a time and place in Italy for frank discussion among those people who have transformed their research into actual businesses. This is a vibrant sector and attracts many of the best young minds from the world of research, but it lacks visibility with respect to the general public and finance. R4R aims to create an opportunity for these young researchers to become more aware of their strength and gain visibility in the media and among public-sector decision makers because they will be the backbone of a competitive industrial sector in the future.”

Target audience R4R is aimed at all research spinoffs and other innovative startups that cannot manage to gain sufficient visibility with respect to all those groups in Italy who are characterised – and will be ever more so – by a strong “need” for innovation: more established companies in the renewables sector as well as all those in the corporate finance industry (angel / seed / venture capital, private equity, etc.) who are keen to tap the most promising initiatives in the energy sector.

GoalsR4R aims to create a strong sense of community: it aspires to generate critical mass and opportunities for high-level dialogue. The project, as it has been conceived, will make everyone working in research in Italy more aware of the possibilities to transform their work into successful business ideas. Moreover, R4R will strive to send a strong message to public institutions, the business community and financial operators that Italian research is flourishing and able to produce competitive innovation for products and processes in technological segments that are absolutely critical for the development of a knowledge economy and low-carbon society.

Solarexpo & Greenbuilding 2010

Solarexpo is Italy’s leading event dedicated to renewable energy sources and sustainable architecture. This success is confirmed by the numbers from the 2009 edition: nine exhibition halls, 1,060 exhibitors, 81,000 square meters of total exhibition space, 8,000 square meters of external stands, 63,800 certified trade visitors, 38% of exhibitors coming from outside Italy and representing 41 different countries. For the next edition, our targets are even higher, supported by excellent feedback from visitors and exhibitors alike. For the next edition, Solarexpo expects 1,300 exhibitors, of which 35% from outside Italy, 70,000 visitors and more than 100,000 square meters of exhibition space.

Solarexpo 2010 will feature technology focus areas dedicated to particularly relevant topics, a way to enhance synergies between exhibitors and visitors. Among the planned areas: Polygen (distributed cogeneration and trigeneration), PV supply chain (technologies for the photovoltaic supply chain), CSP (new concentrating solar power technologies), Green Job Centre (an area bringing together job seekers and employers from the renewable energy sector), Ecomove (innovative, low environmental impact forms of transport) and Bioenergy (biomass, biogas & biofuels).Solarexpo in 2010 will again be held alongside Greenbuilding, the international exhibition and conference on energy efficiency and sustainable architecture, to continue offering the most complete overview of products, technologies and solutions from the field of renewables and energy efficiency.